Ender's Game

[ussusimiel]

Went to see this during the week. I have read and enjoyed the books for many years, so I had zero expectations that the film could live up to my imaginings. And all of my expectations were realised

I think that the only memory that that I took from the film was that of the Mind Game, which in basically the CGI rendering of a CGI rendering I'm afraid, beyond that, nothing really came across. Even Ender's character doesn't come across that well. Bean is indistinguishable, as are all the rest of the kids at Battle School. We get no sense of what the future Earth society is like and Peter and Valentine's Locke and Demosthenes do not make an appearence at all.

The visuals are fine but essentially empty because the story is not being got across. I'm at a loss to imagine how the film could have been improved because it is essentially Ender's inner life that is the core of the book. The simple solution is probably that it shouldn't have been made at all. It's probably an example of when the seduction of CGI trumps good movie-making sense.

u.

[EDIT: to fix typo.]

[Rau Le Creuset]

I read enders game a while ago and literally remember nothing from the book... I am sad to hear that the movie isnt living up to the novel because I was contemplating seeing it to spike my interest in the book again. i didnt even know there was more than one book until I read your post xD

[Vraith]

It wasn't possible to completely do the novel [there almost never is if a novel is any good]...
Yet it IS possible to make a good movie [or even great..or at least satisfying] and keep the spirit/theme if not the minutiae.
This did neither, [and it ain't anywhere near as deep/complicated as many successful ones] despite having a reasonable number of good and SMART actors.
Maybe it was the director [I've only seen one thing he's done and wasn't impressed]...but the thing SEEMS like they didn't have a clue what the spirit/theme actually WAS.
That shouldn't be true since, from all I've seen, Card was powerfully and intimately involved in it all...so maybe that was the problem...the diminishing of Peter, Valentine, and Bean were all defintitely his idea.

[Orlion]

It was between this or Free Birds... I watched Free Birds. Got a couple chuckles out of it and numb lips from over-salted popcorn.

[Rau Le Creuset]

Just went to see Ender's last night. was not impressed. I didn't mind the kid that played ender though. he did good as far as kid actors go. he actually impressed me in some scenes. I think the script was pretty bad though.

[wayfriend]

It seemed to me from the trailers that the movie departed significantly from the book. Particulary, book-Ender isn't really told what's going on, whereas movie-Ender seems to be "in on it" all along -- which seems to defeat the purpose of training someone by having them feel all alone, doesn't it? Yes, things change in a movie, but that point seemed like the whole point. On that point alone, I don't think it can be the same story. I probably will still see it, so am avoiding spoilers, but I would not mind reading general comments about faithfulness.

[Vraith]

am avoiding spoilers, but I would not mind reading general comments about faithfulness.

I think that's the gist of what I said above, and what u. said, too {YEA...u. and i agree!} ...there isn't any faithfulness to anything important.

[ussusimiel]

It seemed to me from the trailers that the movie departed significantly from the book. Particulary, book-Ender isn't really told what's going on, whereas movie-Ender seems to be "in on it" all along -- which seems to defeat the purpose of training someone by having them feel all alone, doesn't it? Yes, things change in a movie, but that point seemed like the whole point. On that point alone, I don't think it can be the same story. I probably will still see it, so am avoiding spoilers, but I would not mind reading general comments about faithfulness.

I would have said that while book-Ender wasn't overtly in on it, he was aware of the manipulation that was going on, but because of the stakes he chose to endure it. In the book, Ender's isolation is the natural isolation of a leader. It feels more lonely because he is basically a child having to go through what is normally an adult experience. I think the movie tries to be faithful to this, but for a number of reasons doesn't get the idea/experience across as well as the book.

u.

[ItisWritten]

It seemed to me from the trailers that the movie departed significantly from the book. Particulary, book-Ender isn't really told what's going on, whereas movie-Ender seems to be "in on it" all along -- which seems to defeat the purpose of training someone by having them feel all alone, doesn't it? Yes, things change in a movie, but that point seemed like the whole point. On that point alone, I don't think it can be the same story. I probably will still see it, so am avoiding spoilers, but I would not mind reading general comments about faithfulness.

I know what you're talking about. The trailer seemed to imply that Ender would do something different than was in the book. We've seen this before where they put images and dialogue that aren't in the movie. That's what happened here.

The movie is faithful to the plot. But the script suffers the fate of all "favorite" book movie adaptations. The scope of the story just isn't there. The battle school, which was the chief area of Ender's development in the book is severely shortened. We see just 1 game for the Dragon team. Demosthenes and Locke are left out.

Yet for me, the main theme of the story remains. Because I read the book, I filled in the blanks that were left out. That's not to say I wasn't disappointed at times. My biggest gripe was the casting of Bonzo Madrid. I'm not sure how anyone could justify that choice.

My experience was more favorable than others here.

[Menolly]

I am waiting to hear MsMary's input...

[ussusimiel]

My biggest gripe was the casting of Bonzo Madrid. I'm not sure how anyone could justify that choice.

Same here. It was ridiculous. Did someone mix him up with Bean? No criticism of the actor, I thought he was one of the few who injected some energy into the his performance and actually had a definite character.

u.

[MsMary]

I am waiting to hear MsMary's input...

Ha.

SPOILERS BELOW.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

*********

I enjoyed the movie overall.

But I had quibbles with the way some things were done. I understand cutting out or changing things to make a movie, but I had to wonder how the whole thing would flow to someone who hadn't read the book. The pacing of the movie action seemed off to me in some parts.

They didn't really explain a Third or the significance of Ender being a Third.

They totally flubbed "The enemy's gate is down" line, which should have been introduced by Ender at his first meeting with Dragon Army. (Not introduced by and repeated by Bean.)

And I was irrationally irritated that they put Bean in Ender's launch group, even though I understand why they made that change for the movie.

I thought Asa Butterfield did a reasonably good job of playing Ender. But the characters of his Jeesh mates were not adequately developed. To be honest, I had a hard time telling Bean from Alai in some of the scenes.

The way they rushed from Ender's appointment as commander of Dragon Army right to the final Dragon Army battle against two other armies didn't seem right to me. You didn't get to see Ender's brilliance as a commander or the way he was able to beat the system again and again in Battle School.

I thought Mazer Rackham was well-played. And I loved the way they did the command school simulator - 3D all around Ender in the middle.

The final battle was amazing, but Ender's reaction when he won the final game was not in keeping with the book. (He didn't rejoice in the way they showed in the movie, he felt that he had "beat" the authorities so he wouldn't have to play anymore.) The looks on the faces of his Jeesh when he dared to destroy the planet was great.

I did like the way they portrayed Ender's reaction when he learned the game was real, and his meeting with the Hive Queen was well done.

I think it's a hard book to turn into a movie. I'm glad the movie was made and I did enjoy it, as I said above.

Just my quick thoughts, willing to add to it later.

[MsMary]

I am waiting to hear MsMary's input...

Also: You just knew I would have seen it.

(Not on opening weekend, however, as we had family stuff to attend to that weekend and viewing Ender's Game did not seem in keeping with what else we were doing.)

Did you see it, Menolly? And if you did, what did you think?

[Harbinger]

Horrible. One of the worst adaptations of a novel I've ever seen.

[MsMary]

Hmm, the movie had its flaws, but I didn't think it was the worst adaptation of a novel ever.

I had fun watching it.

But maybe that's at least partly cause I'm a longtime Ender's Game fan.

[ussusimiel]

Horrible. One of the worst adaptations of a novel I've ever seen.

Yup! I don't think I've thought about it once since I saw it. Not even memorably poor

Hmm, the movie had its flaws, but I didn't think it was the worst adaptation of a novel ever.

I had fun watching it.

But maybe that's at least partly cause I'm a longtime Ender's Game fan.

Longtime Ender fan here as well and more disappointed with the adaptation than anything else. A missed opportunity, IMO

u.

[Harbinger]

I too, am a longtime Ender's Game fan. I have read the book at least three times and I currently have a copy waiting for my son when he's ready.

I would probably have liked the movie more if I had never read the book. The casting was all wrong. The character development wasn't there. The political correctness helped ruin it. The bonds and tension between the characters wasn't there. Battle school wasn't scary or intimidating. I could go on and on.

In summary, a Reader's Digest condensed book does a better job of telling a story. I am ashamed to admit I've ever read one of those, but I looked at one in a waiting room or guest room or something many years ago.

[dlbpharmd]

We watched this on DVD this weekend, and really enjoyed it. I've never read the books (SRD's comments about OSC have biased me) so didn't know the story at all. I was stunned by the ending. Will there be a sequel?

[Hashi Lebwohl]

IMDB lists the budget as $110M and the gross as $61.6M, a total which does not include DVD sales. Based on that number I would wager that a sequel will not happen--the first movie didn't make money, which is often a bad sign to studios. There is still a possibility they might but I doubt it. They didn't make a sequel for Golden Compass, another movie which wildly underperformed despite its budget and is stars.

[wayfriend]

... not to mention that the book-sequels are very different than EG, characters and stories and themes. There's no material for a sequel.

(Perhaps that explains some things.)